Hi all. Managed to have a NSD today & will again tomorrow hopefully as am at work for most of it. Getting quite worried about money now as I normally get a carer's allowance for my son and I haven't received that this month because D,W& P have said that I earned too much last month to be eligible for it which I disagree with but they are looking into. Then tonight OH came home to say they may all be facing redundancy at work. Things seem to be going from bad to worse at the moment so I may be needing to reign in my grocery spending even more than I have been doing.

Been on a course today and had to buy lunch, but this was from my Av0n purse, so not from our GC total. Felt really indulgent buying a freshly made cheese sandwich and crisps! Food hygiene course - gave me both a headache and nausea - not looking forward to day 2 tomorrow!

Being that our GC for Jan ends tomorrow, and I've no plans to go out tonight, I'd like to declare at £349.02 this month which is £50.98 under. We have really tightened our belts and I have had several days of moany kids complaining that there's no biscuits, DH moaning about some evening meals, and an almost empty fridge, but funnily enough we have all survived .

A big thank you to Helen Jelly for keeping us on the straight and narrow, and welcome back MrsM.

Two NSDs in a row for me, and my new month starts tomorrow, so now I can set myself a budget and do my meal plan. Having been away, it was really helpful to 'play' OS for a week, before starting properly again.
Made some soup yesterday - classic storecupboard cuisine! I opened the cupboard, found red lentils, a tin of toms (with a bit of sugar), a tin of hotdog sausages, some bbq herby-type mix, some mixed herbs, some worcester sauce, a veg stock cube and a dash of tabasco. Despite sounding weird, was actually quite nice with som hm bread for my lunch today!!
Not declaring for Jan, but I would like to have a budget of £150 for Feb please.

Food etc for me, DD9 and DS7(and a bf half the time for dinners)April lost count but about £180May budget £100, spent £130, which is a 28% reduction on April!!
June budget £90, spent around £150
July budget £93, spent so far £82.72

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Moniker - please could we have the recipe for the chicken and broccoli bake? It sounds lovely and I have some chicken I was going to put in a pie.

Tonight's tea was whoopsied sausages, some leftover mash from the freezer which I turned into fried potato, baked beans and a packet of super noodles!! Not very healthy but v.cheap!I also made a favourite pudding of mine from my school days. Does anyone remember "Fudge Tart"? It was a pastry base with a thick, creamy filling and grated chocolate on top. Well I found the recipe on a school recipe website and it was just as I remembered it.

NSD for me as we were back to school but I will need a couple things tomorrow to keep us going til the end of the week.

Heavy snow forecast here tomorrow afternoon. I love the snow but my son has an exam on Thursday so hope he can get to school.

Hello everyone,
well i told myself this month was going to be so very different ......yes i was intending to be a lot more organised.... Hasnt happened yet!!! That said its a good job ive managed to keep all my receipts so i can update tomorrow. Im hoping to still be within my budget for January even though ive had to send hubby out shopping as ive had raging toothach for two and a half weeks, a week of that even after i had it out
I wont ever be sending him again, last weeks shopping was £106 for one week
Mmm me thinks if it was his money he wouldnt have been buying all those nice things, and would have stuck to the list. I hope everyones getting on o.k, i havent been able to keep up with the threads as ive felt so awful. Will update tomorrow, fingers crossed ill be within budget

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Method
Grease the pie dish
Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl. Combine the milk, butter, egg and vanilla and mix with the dry ingredients all together. Pour into the pie dish. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge. Can be left overnight for the following day if you wish.
Preheat oven 180c. Sprinkle cocoa and sugar for the topping over the pudding. Pour the boiling water over the top. Do not mix. Place in oven and cook for 45 minutes until puffy and firm in the centre. May be served with cream or ice cream.

NSD here but Mr T coming tom with a large shop. Good news - the ipod came back today!

Method
Make pastry and line 8 inch flan tin bake blind if you wish. (I bought one!)
Pour half the milk into saucepan, add marg and heat until nearly boiling. Blend the remainder of the milk with the flour, mix to a smooth paste then add to the milk/marg mixture. Add sugar and cook thoroughly until a smooth finish obtained. Add vanilla essence. Pour into pastry case. Chill til set the grate chocolate on top.

Just did a count up from my food purse, and still have £87.14 left to last till the end of the month.Been really good this month, and using up lots of stuff from the freezer and store cupboards. What's left over will go into my holiday fund for this August.I did have lots of tins of biscuits and cakes and stuff as presents for some reason so those have come in very handy plus of course lots of thick soups from veggies in my SC

R.I.P Alan 17/5/1933-14/7/2003

January spends £59.44.25/31 NSD /56p

February Budget £36.45 23/28 NSD /£23.55

£20 carried forward for Aldi voucher use with

March Budget £60.00 for 31days

3rd NSD/31

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Went to Wilkinsons and total forgot about the challenge until I reached the bus stop.
I spent £15.81 on cleaning stuff and a £1.49 meal deal. I was going to a club who didn't know I was vegetarian. Should of saved my money as the bus was very late which didn't make it worthwhile to go to the club. Also went to M&S and bought a 59p orange. Also paid the milkman £4.06.
I'm planning on using up what I have left in the cupboards to reduce overspend but overspend I will. My daughter wants hot dinners next week so thats £9.50 and I will have to get fresh fruit and bread and pay the milkman. So I'm hoping the overspend will be under £30.

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Hi all
Just updating sig. I've decided to try to last until the end of the month without a delivery but I've had to book a T*sco one for 31/1 because the coupons I got for their earlier no-shows expire then. This will go in the Feb budget.
So this morning I'm going to see what's left and revamp my meal plan. Would love an underspend this month but musn't speak too soon!

I've been lurking on this thread for a while now and I've really enjoyed reading everyone's experiences, tips and advice. I really wish it was the end of the month already so I could start joining in for Feb! Need to try and come up with a budget figure to aim for first though, I've never properly tracked how much we (OH, me and 2 house bunnies) spend on groceries so I'll need to estimate a realistic figure....hmmm.

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I've been lurking on this thread for a while now and I've really enjoyed reading everyone's experiences, tips and advice. I really wish it was the end of the month already so I could start joining in for Feb! Need to try and come up with a budget figure to aim for first though, I've never properly tracked how much we (OH, me and 2 house bunnies) spend on groceries so I'll need to estimate a realistic figure....hmmm.

When I started I tried to remember my last 2 weeks shopping bills to get an average and multiplied the amount by 4 or 5 depending on whether it was a four or five week month if you know what I mean

I was waaaaaay out though and was spending upto £600 a month It wasn't the actual supermarket trips that were denting the budget it was all the nip ins during the week for something I needed and instead of just getting milk, for example, I'd see loads of 'bargains' and stock up whether I needed it or not Once I got this under control, by only going into the supermarket once a week or only taking enough money out for whatever I need, and the brilliant help on here I have nearly cut this in half

Good luck and look forward to seeing you in February's challenge. Do have a look at the first 3 posts on the thread as theres an explanation of how it works & lots of brilliant recipes from post 3 onwards

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When I started I tried to remember my last 2 weeks shopping bills to get an average and multiplied the amount by 4 or 5 depending on whether it was a four or five week month if you know what I mean

I was waaaaaay out though and was spending upto £600 a month It wasn't the actual supermarket trips that were denting the budget it was all the nip ins during the week for something I needed and instead of just getting milk, for example, I'd see loads of 'bargains' and stock up whether I needed it or not Once I got this under control, by only going into the supermarket once a week or only taking enough money out for whatever I need, and the brilliant help on here I have nearly cut this in half

Good luck and look forward to seeing you in February's challenge. Do have a look at the first 3 posts on the thread as theres an explanation of how it works & lots of brilliant recipes from post 3 onwards

That's good advice, thanks I'll have a read of the earlier posts so I'm fully prepared for Feb

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